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Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefvater are collaborating on a new middle grade series entitled Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures.

Pearce will pen the story and Stiefvater will create the artwork. Stiefvater has become well-known for her popular young adult fiction books; this project marks her debut as a children’s books illustrator.

Scholastic editorial director David Levithan negotiated the deal with Laura Rennert from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and Josh Adams from Adams Literary. Levithan secured world rights; the publishing house plans to release the first installment in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

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Executive Agent Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency has clients who write books that are best-sellers, books that win awards.

She represents literary stars like Ellen Hopkins, Jay Asher, Lauren Kate, Maggie Stiefvater, Kathleen Duey and Catherine Ryan Hyde,

And Laura also represents first-time authors.

Laura Rennert conducts her breakout session

With separate handouts for picture book authors and fiction writers, Laura suggests we

"reverse-engineer our approach by thinking like an agent or editor."

Laura walks us through her formula to create a pitch.

Just as we writers need to pitch agents to get them excited to read our book (towards getting representation), agents pitch editors to get them excited to read our book (towards selling it!)

And then, once our book is sold and published, consider that book sellers, publicity people, marketing people and you, the author (once again!) will pitch gatekeepers and readers to get them excited to buy and read your book!

So a pitch for your book is really important.

It should include:

Who 
What - what sets story in motion irrevocably 
Where - the world it's in
and Why Should I Care? - that's the stakes
and the bonus,
What is The Special Ingredient that makes this story stand out from all other works in that category?

And Comps help give a context, saying that your work is in the same space as X...

She shares with us her full pitch (that she used to sell the book to its editor) for her client Maggie Steifvater's "Shiver." It's impressive.

Laura answers attendee questions, giving us loads of additional advice on next-steps-in-our-career strategies, speaks of some of her authors pursuing hybrid careers (pursuing both traditional and self-publishing), and much, much more.

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Rubin Pfeffer was a publisher of Children's books (at both Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and Simon and Schuster) and then became an agent. He launched his own agency in January of 2014, Rubin Pfeffer Content, LLC.

Rubin Pfeffer

Laura Rennert has a PHD in English literature, is an author of both a picture book (Buying, Training and Caring for your Dinosaur, and the chapter book Royal Princess Academy: Dragon Dreams.) She has been a senior agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency since 1998.

Laura Rennert

The panel's focus is "What Hooks Me" and it covered topics including cover and query letters, how each agents sees their role (editorial or not?) and clients building a brand.

Here are some highlights of what Rubin and Laura shared:

Rubin: 

I love to open a package or click on a file and feel the potential…

Looking for an author and/or illustrator who is able to "tell a story and bring me into their world."

"I don't get attracted to a one book relationship… I want a relationship to grow." It's very satisfying to watch something start small and see it go big.

It starts with one book… and that's the foundation upon which more will grow.


Laura:

She referred to herself as a "literary omnivore."

Looking for works that "explore universals in incredibly idiosyncratic ways."

Think about the voice of your cover letter.

"When you are ready to go out with your project [to submit to an agent], you should feel like you've done everything you can" to get it as far as you can.

The client should be the CEO of their own business. She considers her role more that of COO.

She asks herself: "What makes this author stand out in this crowded category?"

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From the seats...

And close up!

Left to Right: Sarah Davies and Steve Malk

Left to Right: Erin Murphy and Aleandra Penfold

Left to Right: Rubin Pfeffer, Linda Pratt and Laura Rennert

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Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay Asher and The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things author Carolyn Mackler have signed a deal with Penguin’s Razorbill imprint for a young adult novel they co-wrote.

The Future is Us will come out in November with an initial printing of 500,000 copies. Publisher Ben Schrank negotiated the deal with two literary agents, Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and Jodi Reamer of Writers House.

Here’s more from the release: “The Future is Us is set in 1996, when less than half of all American high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented for several more years. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD-ROM with 100 free hours. When she and her best friend Josh log on to AOL they discover themselves on Facebook … fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what life has in store for them. Josh and Emma are about to find out.”

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Blogger of the Week:
Christy Raedeke...


Oregon-based YA author Christy Raedeke is a self-proclaimed "compulsive blogger." Here she talks about starting out, why she blogs, and offers some advice to those just dipping their toes into the blogosphere. Click here to visit her blog Juvenescence (I love the name!)

Why did you start blogging?

I really started blogging about five years ago with a blog unknown to even my husband! I think blogging is a really interesting way to get your writing gears moving every morning. A year ago I started the blog Juvenescence, which gave my blogging a bit of focus. Wait, what’s less than a bit? A smidge? Okay, it’s more like a smidge of focus.

What do you blog about?

I started this blog to connect with other writers, not as a marketing tool. I try to include anecdotal information about the publishing process as I go through it and I’ve started doing interviews with debut authors, but a lot of the time I post about things that are happening in my life. Vignettes, I guess.

What advice would you offer new bloggers?

If anyone is thinking of starting a blog, I’d say go for it! It’s free and it’s incredibly easy to figure out. (It takes literally less than five minutes to set up a blog.) Blogging will quickly become a natural part of your daily writing practice. And there’s something magical about the “Publish Post” button that you click to get a new post on your blog; think of it as your daily commitment to publishing. I had no readers the first month, a handful the second, and then the growth was exponential. Stick with it. Post often, even if it’s a short one. Make friends with other bloggers—there are people I know through blogging whom I would hug like long-lost kin if I met them in person, that’s how much I love them.

Tell me about your upcoming titles with Flux.

This was my deal report from Publishers Marketplace:

Christy Raedeke’s PROPHECY OF DAYS, pitched as a YA Da Vinci Code relating to the Mayan calendar which mysteriously ends in 2012, in which a teen, with the help of a gorgeous Scottish lad, must figure out her role in a cryptic prophecy while trying to outwit a secret society that will stop at nothing to control her, to Andrew Karre at Flux, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2010, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (North America).

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All About Agents...

My Sunday morning started out with an agent panel moderated by Mark McVeigh Editorial Director of Simon & Schuster imprint Aladdin. And here's some news--Mark revealed that Aladdin is now a hardcover imprint and will be publishing picture books through novels for teens.

The panelist were Dilys Evans, president of Dilys Evans Fine Illustration; Michael Stearns, editor-turned-agent with Firebrand Literary; Michael Bourret, agent with Dystel & Goderich; and Laura Rennert, senior agent at Andrea Brown Literary.

Mark asked the panel: Why does a creative person need an agent?

Micheal Stearns: He said writers need agents for two reasons. First, to work out deals with the editor so as not to pollute the writer-editor relationship. (Or, as Mark McVeigh put it, "Let the writer make the snowballs and the agents throw them. He is very much a pro-agent editor.) And second, because agents keep on top of the market in ways that a writer cannot.

Michael Bourret: He said a writer need an agent for direction as the writer builds her career.

Laura Rennert: She said agents are the advocates to deal with situations of problems that arise as the industry changes.

More from the panelists:
Michael Bourret: He shared a success story about his author Jill Alexander whom he met at the SCBWI conference last February. (She also met her editor there). He was taken in my her a title A Hood Ornament in the N0-Jesus Christmas Parade and knew he wanted her as a client. Her book will come out next year. (He agents Sara Zarr, a National Book Award finalist.)

Laura Rennert: She describes herself as a "literary omnivore," and says she's looking for a strong voice, a voice she takes pleasure in, a new perspective, a fresh and unusual angle. (She agents NY Times bestselling author Jay Asher; and Kathleen Duey, also a National Book Award finalist.)

Dilys Evans: She says agents must establish great working relationships with their editors--they must find ways to get what they want, smiling. (Mark McVeigh referred to agents as "honest sharks.")

And I wish you all could have been there to here Dilys Evans tell stories--she was terrific.

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