Sarah Stern says one of the reasons Salley Mavor's
POCKET FULL OF POSIES won this year's Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration is that every single page is beautifully crafted and embroidered, lovingly and carefully worked on for years at a time.
Some quotes from Salley's acceptance speech:
It is a great honor to have my work recognized this way.... Since my first book, THE WAY HOME, was published 20 years ago, I've felt like an outsider paddling upstream—with a needle and thimble in a stream of watercolors. Now I feel I'm floating down a stream of possibilities.
Some people Salley wanted to thank:
Margaret Raymo, her editor, who was patient while Salley worked, sometimes for a year at a time, without showing Margaret anything.
Salley's husband, who has encouraged her work and never suggested she get a "real" job.
 |
| from her Amazon page |
Quotes from Salley's about her art style, which she calls fabric relief, and how she began to create in fabric:
I say I am part of the "slow art movement."
Machines are no help, everything is done by hand.
Growing up crayons, were never enough... I'd spend hours creating scenes and clothing for my miniature dolls.
At RISD she rediscovered her love of 3D art and had teachers that encouraged her to work outside of the yoke of traditional illustration mediums. It's during this time Salley taught herself to embroider.
Salley is an active blogger and I love the photos she posts. Check them out
here. Her work can be found in a touring exhibit AND you can even learn how to do fabric relief by picking up her book, FELT WEE FOLK.
Tracey Adams (with her husband Josh) runs Adams Literary - a boutique agency exclusively dedicated to representing children's and young adult authors and artists, including many award-winning and bestselling clients!
Tracey starts out by sharing that this month's SCBWI Bulletin's
SCBWI Success Story is
Veronica Rossi and her debut "Under The Never Sky" - whom she and Josh met at last year's Saturday night pool party... and then Tracey held up the published book!
When asked about e-books and the changes in publishing, Tracey mentioned how they're looking at working with some of the new smaller publishers (like Little Pickle Press) and for all the changes in format, from audio books through e-books and beyond, their goal is to figure out what's best for their authors.
Here's a great quote from Tracey:
While some agencies might be saying 'can I sell this?,' we're thinking 'am I in love with this?' ...We don't give up easily, and if we love something, we're gonna find a home for it."
The panel is funny, and there's lots of great info being share - it's fascinating to get this glimpse into Tracey's process.
Is she an editorial agent (doing revisions with her clients before submission?)
She likens it to real estate, and says
"we see ourselves as stagers - we get it ready in its best form to submit."
whether it takes a pass or two with the author revising it or if she gets it and it's good to go,
"If we see voice, we're gonna grab you up because I don't think you can teach that."
The panel ends with brilliant lightning round, and it was such a great opportunity to learn more about Tracey Adams. Oh, and you can follow Adams Literary on twitter
here!
Marcia Wernick has brought some of our favorite creators into the publishing world, like Mo Willems and Peggy Rathmann. Her new agency,
Wernick & Pratt, just celebrated its six-month anniversary. She promises their website will be updated soon.
Thoughts on digital publishing?The digital world offers a lot of opportunities, but it's not a replacement for publishers. It's changing the way
Opportunities for game apps, things linked to picture books, but I don't think it Most of our job is to be your advocate and business advisor, this is part of what we have to do, guide you through whether digital publishing will be good for your career.
In your opinion, is there a genre or age-group category that's drying up right now? Or one that's thriving?Marcia: I think there's always a market for a well-crafted, strong original voice. It took her two and a half years to sell DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS, but it did sell, eventually.
One market more challenged than the others is the non-fiction market. It's taken a hit. It's traditionally been geared to the school and library markets, both of which have endured big budget cuts.
You have a client, you've sold four books with the client. They deliver their next book and you don't love it, what do you do? Sometimes, to support my opinion that it's not working, I'll share the manuscript with Linda Pratt to get her opinion and share that with the author, too. On occasion I'll share it with the editor who is publishing that author, too.
When you go out with a manuscript from a debut author, what makes you sure you can sell it?This industry is driven passion, so I need to be passionate about the manuscript. I am the Mama Bear, I make sure my client is taken care of and their work is out there. I feel an incredible entitlement on behalf of my client. It's their right to get their work out there—it's our right.
How do you find illustrators?Most of my clients have come through referrals. Some digital submissions, sometimes meeting them at conferences. One of the things that's very different about looking at artwork vs. illustration is an illustration portfolio needs to show characters. And character development and emotion moving or changing through an illustrator's portfolio.
What happens if you can't sell something?It's important that while I'm trying to sell a project the author continues to move forward by working on new projects. We're looking long term, I'm not just interested in selling one project.
If you were given a magic wand to change one thing in publishing, what would that thing be?On the business side, I like escalating royalties across the board.
Norton Juster wrote the classic Children's book "The Phantom Tollbooth,"
"The Dot and The Line,"
"The Odious Ogre,"
and "The Hello, Goodbye Window."
And I (and the other 1,341 people here) are eager to learn from the mind of the man who wrote the note on that famous tollbooth that read:
"RESULTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED, BUT IF NOT PERFECTLY SATISFIED, YOUR WASTED TIME WILL BE REFUNDED."
Norton's first book, "The Phantom Tollbooth," came out in 1961 (50 years ago!) And he's reflecting on how the world was a much different place then, but children's lives were pretty much the same, across generations. The great puzzle for kids is what their parents are all about.
He's recalling how one of the qualities of his own childhood was a lot of time with nothing much to do... and the resulting boredom. And says,
"Boredom is not an unmixed blessing. But you can learn a lot fighting your way out of it."
He calls himself an "accidental writer," and reads us a very funny bio of himself he wrote early in his writing career, then launches into his journey through architecture school and the Navy to go back to seeing the world how he saw it as a child...
And then he started writing - 50 pages in, a friend sent it to an adult editor, who then called Norton up three weeks later and offered him a contract.
He was sharing a townhome with illustrator Jules Feiffer at the time, and shared pages with him, and Jules did sketches... And they were wonderful.
He's sharing very funny anecdotes about his back and forth with Jules on him challenging Jules to illustrate things he knew he didn't like to draw, and Jules trying to subvert what Norton was asking for...
The general sense when "The Phantom Tollbooth" was that "no child should have to confront anything that they didn't already know," and it wasn't expected to do well...
But wow did it ever!
Where and how did Jon fall in love with books? Not in school. Jon grew up reading MAD magazine or war comics for fun, but in school he had to read the incredibly boring Dick And Jane. They laughed at things that weren't funny. Like dishes.
"If I had only learned to read from the stuff I read in school, I don't think I would have been a reader."
It wasn't until after Jon was an elementary school teacher for a few years that he started to find all those great children's books we civilized, intelligent SCBWI members already know about.
Jon realized he wanted to make children's books, too. And some of the ways he's approached making books are outlined below:
STEALING AND TWISTING:
COWBOY & OCTOPUS is a tribute to GEORGE and MARTHA, FROG and TOAD. Jon tried to imagine the weirdest possible friend duo he could.
Be prepared for people to not get your twists. For THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS, Jon and Lane got lots of rejections from publishers like: Too sophisticated, too dark, or code words for disgusting.
COMBINE YOUR PASSION WITH MARKET (OR DONUT) HOLES:
Jon loves history, and he noticed it was always hard to get his boy students to read chapter books, they liked thinner books with fun covers. So Jon made his books fit those limits, and THE TIME WARP TRIO was born. Not having too many rules for the magic in Jon's series means Jon can do lots of crazy stuff—going back in history, forward in time, into other books.
Jon digresses for a few minutes about Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I signed that diplomatic immunity contract in the post below and can't repeat it.
Similarly, the excellently covered
GUYS READ short story collection he edits takes the sting out of too many chapters in a row.
Jon taught 8th grade algebra and for years tried to figure out how to write a funny book about math. Do you have any loves or specialties that don't seem like typical picture book fodder?
PROSTITUTE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
Jon owed an editor a book for four years, and after the book was overdue by two years, his editor asked him to write a book about
anything and suggested he write about his family.
"Who'd want to read about my family?" he asked, "We aren't that weird."
"Y
It's a great morning. Donna Jo Napoli was up first, David Small is up now. If you haven't visited David's
website, it is full of fantastic sketches from his travels and helpful links. For a hint at his demo on Monday and a quick interview, visit this
post.
Besides visiting David's website, I would say PLEASE take a moment to read the posts about him on Julie Walker Danielson's
Seven Impossible Things. Her
review of STITCHES alone makes me tear up.
David shares this video with us:
It's pretty harrowing, be sure you've had your breakfast and a hug for the day.
David tells us making STITCHES was the therapy he couldn't get any other way.
David needed to find a way to bring his family back, to recreate and remember them to figure out if his adulthood nightmares, anxieties, and anger are rooted in his childhood or just chronic depression.
But as David is sketching and drawing and writing down his childhood memories, he comes to the conclusion:
"I had an unloving mother who wanted me dead. And I believe it's safer to keep expressions like that away from the body, and get them out through art or music..."
David is still reticent to talk about the making of STITCHES in public, so he's structured the rest of his talk about it as a Q&A.
Why the switch from picture books to an older audience/graphic novels?
David quotes Dante,
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Deciding he needed to drop all the metaphors in his life and start looking at REAL life, David wanted some good therapy, but:
"Out on the prairie, you don't have access to the perfect psychoanalyst, so I became that for myself... by writing and drawing this memoir... and I always expected myself to get over 'it.'"
What would you like readers of this book to know?
When all is said and done, STITCHES is a warning about families with wrong-headed tradition. A long conga line of people abusing their children who go on to abuse their children... David reads Philip Larkin's poem:
Though David now has a brighter view of life than Mr. Larkin, and he's stepped out of that conga line he mentions, it's still a daily struggle for David to be sure he's treating his loved ones the right way.
"So now, after being the downer of the morning, I will try to be the upper, too."
David shows us a video called UNCHAIN MY HEART. A rousing, hilarious animatic of a typical day on an author tour. While
I STRONGLY OBJECT TO THE PORTRAYAL OF MEDIA ESCOR
A quick social media note: Paul is on Facebook and has a public page, so please go and Like his Paul O. Zelinsky page. And he's great on Twitter, too, see links to all of that and more in this
post.
What do you need to illustrate a fairy tale?
- A personal connection to the story
- Inspiring and relevant research materials
- Willing models that won't get a restraining order against you when you try to put them in a costume
- A special calendar for timing your fairy tale dummy submission
- A wonder-full heart
- Toothpicks
Paul grew up listening to classical records with fairy tale narrations and he'd act out those tales with family and friends. His grandmother's painting of Hansel and Gretel (that hung in his childhood room above his crib) sticks out to Paul as something that was strange and wonderful and an icon he focused on. (Easter Egg Alert: Paul pays tribute to his grandmother and her art talent by hiding an homage to her painting in the last spread of HANSEL AND GRETEL.)
Dutch Renaissance painting copying, researching period costumes, collecting images that fit the desired mood and time period are how Paul started getting ready to paint the scenes of HANSEL AND GRETEL. That and studying witchcraft at the Karl Jung Museum in New York (a hot tip from Leonard Marcus!)
After these preliminary measures, Paul enlists volunteers to model the poses he needs for the illustrations. He dresses, poses them, and does sketches and photographs of the models (his editor posed as the witch! As pose only, not in demeanor!)
His next fairy tale, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, he built similarly, but Paul wanted it to look like a different and later European art style.
WORDS TO LIVE BY FROM PAUL O. ZELINSKY:
"When in trouble, go to a librarian."
He's able to get lots of good examples of period costume and art for Rumpelstiltskin, but the BIG DILEMMA for RUMPELSTILTSKIN is
STRAW.
It's hard to find straw in New York, though Paul found a few photos to help. But how to draw straw, how to paint straw, that was a conundrum for Paul. So he played around, painting with tons of different techniques until he found the one he liked: it's the top left and he used a toothpick.
Some final Paul Pearl's:
"If you want to illustrate a fairy tale, the first thing to do is consult The Calendar. It's a cycle. It's related to sun spot activity, so every seventeen years or so is when the fairytale market is up."
"Fairy
If picture book making was competitive French pastry baking, Denise Fleming would be wearing the blue, red, and white collar of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France. But she's equally happy to wear a croissant-shaped hat* instead, because that's what would most appeal to her target audience, the very, very little kids that are moving from board books to picture books.
When illustrating for the very, very young some key ingredients are:
- Strong graphics. Simple, bold bright, but not entirely lacking in the subversive or a bit of detail: give kids something a little extra, things hiding in the picture or in the background, like a pile of croissants.
- Make the actions kid friendly. If you look at Denise's ALPHABET UNDER CONSTRUCTION, her original sketches were quite different—there were big, heavy adult actions and jobs—welding, carving giant cement blocks. But in the final, all of the materials and actions can be found in daycares and done by little kids: painting, knotting yarn, eating baked goods, gluing stuff...
NOT ENTIRELY RELATED WORDS TO LIVE BY FROM DENISE FLEMING:
You can never use too much glue.
Denise blows raspberries at the teacher rhyme, "Just a dot, not a lot."
- Clean fonts. Make sure it's easy for little kids to distinguish not only different letters but different cases in your type by choosing the right font and not doing anything to wild, like make the text read croissants, not cRoissAnTs.
There's more ingredients than that, but how are those for a taste? Light and flaky, yet disarmingly moist, am I right? For a bit more about Denise plus a slideshow of her books, you can visit this
post. She's on Twitter!
@DeniseKFleming. We need to bombard her with Twitterlove and get her tweeting more regularly.**
*I'm correct in assuming no child has ever refused a croissant, oui?
**I won't write more anymore about irregularity.***
***Or croissants. It must be time for a snack.
Jamie Weiss Chilton, an agent with Andrea Brown Literary, says there are two types of nonfiction.
NARRTIAVE NONFICTION should be engaging like fiction—that fact that it happens to be based on real events is like icing on the cake. It’s often illustrated rather than using photographs. Aurhors may use back matter to offer additional information.
INFORMATIONAL NONFICTION offers the facts with no narravtive elements. It uses information sidebars, indexes, italicized words, glossaries, and other elements to teach the information to readers. It’s more text-heavy.
She says when you think about the nonfiction you’re writing, consider the two categories. Research the market to see if there are other books on your chosen topic, and be sure yours has a unique slant.
There are nonfiction books for various age levels each with its own considerations.
Board books: You need a strong platform and credentials. Doing your homework is important. Often board book creators create the content and they may also create novelty formats. (ROCK AND ROLL COLORS is an example.)
Picture books: Today’s nonfiction picture books are different than they were in the' 80s and '90s. Nonfiction picture book text is now shorter and snappier, more witty, clever and funny. The language is accessible and age-appropriate. A strong story arc is important and there must be dramatic tension. Choose a figure, person or event with a dramatic arc. (DAVE THE POTTER is an example.)
Middle grade: Jamie says research is the key—you’re getting into a tremendous amount of research writing a nonfiction book of this length. It’s important for an author to have a strong platform. Also be aware that the cost of photo permissions is taken out of an author’s advance. Some authors use their own photos. (THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE BARBIE is an example.)
Young adult: Memoirs have been doing well and selling well and, again, must read like fiction. Also young readers adaptations (adult books, like THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA FOR KIDS) done over for younger readers. They are relatable and can be aspirational and light and fun or, on the flip side, depressing.
 |
| The packed room listening to Tina Wexler |
Tina Wexler is a literary agent at ICM (International Creative Management) and represents authors for both the adult and children's marketplace. For children's she focuses on YA and MG "with a particular fondness for tall tales, contemporary sci-fi, and gothic love stories."
The room is full, with lots of people sitting on the floor, listening and furiously taking notes.
She describes herself as a "very very hands-on editorial agent" and starts her session by defining success – what we can work towards with these tools she’ll be presenting – that they’re not necessarily the secret to writing a best seller (no one has the magic formula for that!) but they will help us achieve success in terms of getting representation, and getting published.
On the surface, she warns us, her five tips sound simple, but that’s deceptive. She’s taking her time to explain why, with examples, we need to go deeper into each one:
Here' the simple version:
Your manuscript needs to get written, read, researched, revised and loved.
Now here are some of Tina's gems, unearthed when she went dug in:
When revising, look at the first decision your main character makes that really starts the story moving. Now try it the other way, and see where it takes you. Is it more interesting the new way, or did you get it right the first time? You won’t know until you try it…
Do some homework. Pick a topic from your manuscript (bee keeping, wormholes, something already in your story) and research it. And not just internet research. Get a book from the library. Go on a field trip. It will deepen your story.
Don’t just read your own pages out loud, have someone else read it out loud to you – it’s a great way to check if your sassy character dialog actually sounds sassy or... well, whiny.
She’s reading us different examples to illustrate her definition of voice:
The words you use and how you use them, and how the sentence length works to create a rhythm.
It’s the words that get the magic into the story..
The session ends with a great Q&A, with more details about what she loves and is hoping to find…
What an amazing opportunity to get the scoop directly from Tina!
The delightfully funny and terribly wise
Libba Bray (BEAUTY QUEENS, A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY, Printz Award winner GOING BOVINE, and more) sets the scene...
You spend several hours writing, you hold off on the M&Ms, your poetic ovaries shutter with creative life. Then next day you open up that same manuscript...and the characters have all the depth of a Colorforms sticky. Your plot twist is pedestrian. You despair. You think there's just one way out of this: fake your own death.
I'm here to be bring you good news, (just like Jesus), Libba says: your novel probably does suck. It's OK--embrace the suck. Gettting it wrong is a necessary part of getting it right.
Libba talks about spending all day every day writing a novel that was ALL WRONG. She turned it in six months late and then got a 12 page, single spaced editorial letter calling out the wrong. She revised for months. And months. 12 or 13 hours a day. She gained 20 lbs. The novel had also put on weight--ballooning to 900 pages. And it still was not right, she says. But she soldiered on. And after more painful revision and bouts of self-doubth, she eventually got it right.
Here are some of Libba's suggestions on getting through getting it wrong:
- Gather your tools for survival. Your book is in there, buried under the book you hate. Find the tricks that help you dig it out (play lists, writing groups, Pop-tarts...)
- Ignore external voices. That thing you are writing it awesome--it's the only thing that matters. What's hot doesn't matter.
- Lower your standards. Your writing will never be perfect. If you strive for perfection, you're setting yourself up for failure. Don't stive for perfect; strive for better.
- Be open to changing format. Maybe you need to change your point of view. Or write in verse. Or change tense. Find what works for your story.
INTERIOR HYATT CENTURY CITY CALIFORNIA BALL ROOM - AFTERNOON
(A room full of 1,300 people sitting on slightly comfortable chairs. We zoom in on CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #1 who has just paid $8.50 for a sandwich wrap of unknown origin and only had a few minutes to eat it. Next to him, CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #2 didn't even GET a sandwich and she is noticing the ballroom chandeliers look like crystals from Superman's man cave. She wonderis if you could microwave these super crystals, if the crystals would then turn into complete Thanksgiving dinners or maybe just a milkshake and a turkey burger.)
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #2:
Libba Bray is speaking next, do you think she's brought snacks for us?
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #1:
No, and please stop nibbling my arm. Have you read BEAUTY QUEENS yet? I got the hardcover, and I also got the
audio book. Did you know Libba reads the audio version and does, like, ten different voices?
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #2:
Talking about the audio version of Libba Bray's BEAUTY QUEENS is the ONLY THING that can snap me out of this hunger madness. It has to be one of the best audio books I've heard in a long, long time. It's not only well-produced, it's a fantastic, thought-provoking and hilarious story, I want to give a copy to every teen girl I know.
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #1:
Me, too! It should totally win a Grammy.
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #2:
You have graham crackers?
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #1:
No. I'm saying if the award for best spoken-word album could be won by popular vote, we should totally start an online campaign for #BeautyQueensAudiobookShouldWinAGrammy
CONFERENCE ATTENDEE #2:
Shhhhhh! Libba's starting! I think I see a package of Swedish Fish in her pocket!!!
I found a quiet moment in one of our two hospitality suites (The Bel Air and The Malibu room - both on the California level) to talk with Lori Snyder and find out more about tonight's yoga class for conference attendees - from 7:30pm - 8:30pm in Constellation II
Lori's a lovely presence, and it should be a great hour of stretching and breathing... and in that way that yoga has, will be relaxing and energizing at the same time!
Enjoy, and Namaste,
Posted by Lee Wind
Lee Wind hosted another great LGBTQ chat today by the pool. The cabanas were overflowing with attendees, including Arthur Levine, Bruce Coville, Laurent Linn and Judy Blume! This was a great chance for authors and illustrators to meet and begin conversations that can continue through the week. Honest and open, attendees shared personal experiences and ideas.
One thing most mentioned was the desire to see more LGBTQ characters included in stories, but not having them BE the story. A true reflection of our diverse community. We discussed picture books, chapter books and YA novels, plus Arthur Levine gave great advice on using your own feelings to portray true human experiences for your characters.
Judy Blume told the group that the most important thing is to write the story and not to self-censor. And Bruce Coville told everyone to not operate out of fear, or it will constipate your story.
Inspiring, the LGBTQ chat is a great experience I look forward to every year!
Julie Strauss-Gabel's workshop, A Fiction Focus, was fantastic! Julie is the Vice President and Publisher of Dutton Children’s Books. Her authors include: Ally Condie (Matched), Gayle Forman (If I Stay), John Green (Looking for Alaska), Nova Ren Suma (Imaginary Girls), and Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss).
Julie's looking for writing with exceptional quality and commercial appeal. She talked about some of the changes at Dutton, a focus shift.
One of the highlights was hearing about the authors she works with, including John Green. He's a great example of genuine social media interaction, and as an author who grew over time.
Julie is not looking for what's popular--she's looking for what's next. Her key interests are books with an exceptional voice, originality, and a twist. Highly recommend seeing her speak if you get the chance!
View Next 7 Posts
.jpeg?picon=2287)
0 Comments on Jamie Weiss Chilton: the Current Marketplace for Nonfiction as of 1/1/1900
Thanks so much for the communications job done by all in helping us lesser mortals feel we were a tiny part of the inspiration, the joy and the sharing that took place.
All of you were so wonderful. Can't thank you enough for the great blogs!!!!
Fabulous coverage, fascinating tidbits on each page. I cannot imagine NOT going in energy-recharging hibernation after such a herulean feat. Many kudos and thanks to each and very one of Team Blog!
Quick query: Did any of you take in Michel Kripalani's presentation? Not a peep about it....