Conferences have been
in my mind lately, specifically Book Expo America (BEA) and Golden Yarns (GY) here
in New Zealand.
BEA brings people from all over the publishing spectrum
together for a packed 3 day conference. This is where new research is shared,
trends predicted and deals are made. It isn’t much about the writers of the
content but more about how the content is managed, packaged, delivered and
distributed to the global marketplace.
Golden Yarns was the latest conference for the Children’s Literature community in New Zealand. This community has now had 3 stellar conferences two years apart. The Golden Yarns conference focussed on best practice writing and illustration workshops with keynotes being delivered by leaders in the NZ Children’s Literature field on their personal heroes. There were many opportunities for the group to share ideas, hash out issues and drink wine. (The wine bill paid for by a NZ Children’s Writing Icon...gob smacking and a lovely gesture as she wasn’t there to drink it.)
Two very different
conferences in focus but both valuable to the writing and illustration
practitioner.
Breaking down B.E.A.
Bob Mayer gives an entertaining overview of what was going down in old New York Town. His main
concern the lack of digital focus by the organisers (who seemed to believe the
talk from publishers that ebooks sales have plateaued....) A report to show
this was released at BEA.
Sam Missingham examined that report on ebook sales facts and figures, and blew that idea out of the water. Sam $40% BEA 0
Publishing Perspectives took a punt at what they think will be future trends in publishing....hmmm more amalgamations?
Shelf Awareness took a look at a BEA first, Power Readers, who were invited to participate at BEA. Who are they and Why do they matter... they also checked out Neil Gaimen’s talk on why fiction is dangerous.
Inspiring and
Challenging
Here in New Zealand
everyone who attended GY is coming down off their high. Melinda Szymanik has written an overview of the first part of the weekend.
Over in the UK the
Children’s Laureate, Julia Donaldson stepped down after her two year stint with a great broadside at the lack of reviews for children’s books. The wonderful
Malorie Blackman takes over....
This sparked a debate in NZ within the KidLit community
for our own Children’s Laureate...after all we have a Poet Laureate. If you
would like to add your voice to this and are on Facebook, check out this page.
Chuck Wendig has
written another 25 things post.... this time on YA Lit. Be entertained...BeWare...it’s
Chuck.
Jane Friedman has
another of her Best Business Advice List For Writers
In Craft,
Jami Gold on Can ThisStory Be Saved...how to figure out what’s wrong. and What Soap Opera’s CanTeach You...
Janice Hardy on Handling Scene Transitions with Multiple POVs
Chuck Wendig on Ten Stupid Writer Tricks That Might Actually Work (they do!)
Writer’s Digest- Stormwriting- What it is and How To Do It
In Marketing,
The Book Designer has a great blog and his guest blogger Joan Stewart has a take note article on Business Opportunities That Even Savvy Writers Are Missing Out On.
To Finish,
A good conference should allow time to
network with your peers, should inspire you, educate you and give you tools to
move forward in the ever changing world of publishing.
Suw Charman Anderson
has written a Forbes article on what she thinks needs to happen next. Why Publishers Should Invest In Authors Not In Books.... could this be the model
for the future?
Below the animation
announcing Malorie Blackmans appointment...and no that rap was not written for
the announcement it’s been out for a few years now.
(Such street cred with
her readers!)
pic from Flickr/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncvophotos
