It is a long time to have such dedicated sponsors for
Children’s Books and although we in the New Zealand children’s writing
community are very sad that the sponsorship has come to an end we are also very
mindful that we have been so lucky to have such a wonderful sponsor promoting
and encouraging children’s books. Thank you New Zealand Post for being our champion!
Book Awards and their publicity are an easy way for the
general public to find out what is being published every year. NZ Post also
sponsored the traveling road show of finalists visiting schools in far flung
areas of the country in the lead up to the awards. Schools enjoyed the
visits...authors enjoyed the schools... positive publicity all round for
literacy. Book discovery did not have to rest on a chance encounter with a book
on a back shelf in a small chain store, the harassed book rep at school or book
club flyers. We may have to get more creative in our visibility in future.
Barnes and Noble (very big chain store in the US) is having
some problems and Agent Rachel Gardner looks at what might happen if they follow Borders into liquidation.... It is not all doom and gloom.
Mark Coker, of Smashwords, shares an interesting publishing project that librarians, teachers and students have been working on with him.
The poetry book the students wrote designed and uploaded with Smashwords has
become a best seller. Mark would like to encourage other schools to try out
this form of publishing with their students.
Jane Friedman was the Keynote Speaker at the Boston Muse and
the Marketplace writers event which was held last week. A lot of erudite people
came together to look at the changing nature of the marketplace for writers.
Jane shares the reactions and expands on her very good keynote address -Be Optimistic About Publishing. Take some time to read this.
Last month I linked to an article about writers and game
developers meeting at the London Book Fair. Publishing Perspectives talks to a UK publisher who is exploring this new path of collaboration.
Agent Janet Reid shares a cautionary tale on beta copies...
be careful of your friends...
Porter Anderson takes a look at the cost of ISBN’s (they’ve
gone up in the US) and why you need them (it’s all about metadata visibility.)
Just a reminder if you are a Kiwi author you can get them free from National
Library... but you have to lodge copies with them for reference.
In the Craft Section,
Janice Hardy – on fixing episodic mistakes
Story-a-day – creative writing prompts
from the fab team of Ackerman and Puglisi
Agent Donald Mass on Plot vs Heart
Jami Gold - Raising the stakes
In Between...
In the Marketing Section,
When the agent rejects a MS (which was subbed for their
MSWL) Why?
To Finish,
Interviews with two writers which may be of interest Jo Nesbo who talks about his children’s books...the ones he writes when he is not
writing hard boiled detective stories... and Scott Nicholson whom KOBO recently profiled as one of their self publishing success stories.
I have been thinking about Keynote Speakers for our
conference next year and the criteria I need to evaluate who would be
of most value to the average attendee. (KSWL) On my Wish List. Children’s
author... who is doing new and exciting stuff... is available... can inspire
and teach across the newbie and professional spectrum... is cheap... (factor in
flights to NZ etcetcetc) Or can get up in the middle of the night for Skype....
Susan Kaye Quinn ticks a lot of these boxes. Check out this little webinar… drop me a line and tell me what
you think (and she is a rocket scientist... of course that wasn’t a
deciding factor…:)
maureen
Pic: Discovery Shuttle
Photo Credit: NASA/GSFC/ Rebecca Roth
