I guess I can only say what it meant to me as a first-timer. Hopefully something will resonate with you!
Herewith are my takeaways:
The pub house may have new buyers or may have changed their interests in general. Question: how can you be your own foreign rights advocate? Miranda held a showcase for her books and had reached out to possible foreign rights people in advance of the Fair. She had discussions with them at the Fair and if they expressed interest in a title, she passed their contact information on to her agent and/or publishing team. Other SCBWI people made these kind of connections at the Fair and goodness, it was exciting!
There are so many ways in which this experience broadened my horizons. I hope you’ll put the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on your bucket list.
Ciao for now!
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What does all this mean for a creator? For your own work? Scroll down for Part Duo.
Here is my mission statement: to write stories that help children understand the world and their place in it, to exemplify a supportive, professional perspective, and to provide leadership and connection within the children’s literature community.
It’s a little wordy but it works for me.
If you don’t have a personal mission statement YET, take a couple of minutes to read Janine’s post. Create your statement. Then post it on GROG and here, too. Okay? That makes it real.
Remember, we can change our mission statements as our perspective changes. And it’s not graded or judged. This work is all for you.
Go on a mission. Yours.
Disclaimers: Settle in. This will take a bit to read but it’s important to understanding the industry so it’s worth it. And, forgive the wonky formatting.
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Jessica Sinsheimer @jsinsheim Ravenous reader, lazy gourmet, literary agent + cheese-obsessed human. Co-creator of #PubTalkTV, #MSWL, Manuscript Wish List® + http://ManuscriptAcademy.com/welcome
New York, NY
ManuscriptWishList.com
Joined April 2011
Jessica Sinsheimer @jsinsheim
So it’s very common for writers to ask why agents don’t give feedback. The answer, usually, is that we’re busy–but that’s hard to grasp on a concrete level. Today, the lovely and talented @BenFaulknerEd mentioned reading tons, and out of curiosity, I did the math to compare.
Keep in mind that I don’t get all day to read submissions. I actually spend more time on clients, meetings, my own submissions, contracts, and the like. I’m pretty much reading during downtime–evenings, weekends, subway, train trips, plane trips, waiting in line.
Things I could do to be faster (of course I’ve considered them!): 1) Not respond to queries. This would save about 30 seconds from each, times 39.98 times 5 (M-F) times 4 (weeks) divided by 60 (convert to minutes) = 399.8 minutes a month, or 6.6633 hours.
2) Let readers make all of the query requesting decisions for me. Now, if you know me at all, you know I am waaaaayyyyyy too much of a control freak to let that happen. I read all queries myself.
3) Manuscripts–same.
4) Drink more coffee, sleep less. I’m up to two coffees a day, one tea. Just tried the Starbucks app for the first time today (it was weird–too easy). I think that’s enough. Otherwise I’ll just run around all day. And bad things happen fast if I don’t sleep.
5) Give Up Everything Fun And Just Be An Efficient Human, Dammit: Believe me, I’ve tried. Strangely, this makes me miserable and worse at my job. I do need some degree of happiness in my life to be able to function as a creative person–which an agent is. Always. So. That’s out.
So, that’s where I’m at. Do I still expect lots of “Agents are so mean because they don’t give feedback” emails? Yes. And the check-ins at three weeks? And the “I am so tired of agents being SO UNPROFESSIONAL and NOT GIVING ANY FEEDBACK” tweets? Yes.
And there’s one now. Cool.
You may be asking, “Jessica! Why in the world are you doing side projects when you have all of this happening?” The answer is that, for me, it’s easier to keep moving. A change, for me, even if just a setting (office vs coworking space vs home) is more restorative than a rest.
And I get genuine energy and pleasure out of connecting people. I think all agents do. Makes me feel like what I do is meaningful. And that means so much more than numbers could.
Keep in mind that there are a LOT of “Dear Sirs” and “I have published the next bestseller please take it on or else here’s my number” queries. At time of tweeting, I have 6 “Dear Sir/Madam,” 2 “Next bestseller,” and 1 “Next JK Rowling” queries waiting. Do I try to keep up? Yes! Do I achieve inbox zero? No! Inbox 100? No. Do I try to keep in touch about delays? Yes! Do I always manage to check in with everyone when things take a long time? Sadly, no. Am I constantly feeling guilt about making so many people wait? Yes. Yes, I am.
Jessica Sinsheimer @jsinsheim Feb 6 The opposite, actually. I feel like I’m reading for voice, energy. A lot of things–unusual things, specific things too–make me go “Oh, I’ve seen five of those this month already.” But a query that feels like it’s alive on the page? Shockingly rare, and I love it.
I was thrilled when my friend, colleague, and general smartypants gal Deb Gonzalez contacted me to be part of her new on-line publicity course suitable for published and prepublished authors and illustrators. Preparing for presenting my part of this course has helped me prepare my own publicity. That’s a lot of ‘p’ sounds but still, win, win!
Here are the pieces I know my publicity campaign needs. I need to:
While I’m blessed to have tremendous support from my publisher, I’m fully aware that they have other authors that deserve their attention, too.
I desire all these things, and yet I have limited funds and time to devote to developing this campaign.
Where should I start? Where should anyone start? We need a plan, Stan! Let’s set some practical, affordable, and achievable goals. Let’s devise a strategy by asking guidance from professionals who know what to do. Let’s take some action! That’s what Path to Promotion: A Six-Week Online Book Publicity Course is all about.
Together, we will navigate our way down the Path to Promotion.
Path to Promotion is an online collaborative program designed to share promotional information and techniques, to guide in the publicity preparation process, and to clarify steps required to create an affordable marketing platform that is personal, authentic, and professionally sound. In this session, we’ll explore topics such as podcasting, the school/library market, creating a digital footprint, and others. At the end of the course, participants will receive a Path to Promotion Publicity Planner packed with graphics and guides to assist in the quest to make a splash in the world.
Here’s how the Path to Promotion 6-week course works:
Some important registration and fee information:
The Faculty list and their topics include:
I’m so excited about this course. For you and for me. I’m going to learn from each of the faculty members. The topics are timely. I love the fact that the Path to Promotion coursework is interactive, flexible, and versatile – perfect for authors and illustrators, at what ever stage they may be in the quest for publication.
Join us, won’t you?
For more information, contact Deb Gonzales at [email protected].
Deb’s Bio: Debbie Gonzales is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator and adjunct professor, and once served as a SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter. Deb currently devotes her time to writing middle grade novels, crafting teacher guides and various other freelance projects. She’s the author of six “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge, and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Play Like a Girl: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). A transplanted Texan, Debbie now calls beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan home where she lives with her husband John and spunky pup, Missy. Deb earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
This new SCBWI program invites all members to celebrate and promote their newly published work in the same month the book is released.
From SCBWI: On the first Monday of each month, we will display all of the books together on our beautiful Book Birthday page and advertise them through our social media channels.
Each Book Birthday announcement will remain up on our site for two weeks. We hope that all of our traditionally and independently published members will take advantage of this opportunity to celebrate their achievement and launch their work into the book-buying community.
The first Book Birthday will be for all books published in February 2018, launching February 1.
We are currently accepting submissions for the March 2018 Book Birthday.
Only authors and illustrators with books published in March will be able to participate this month, but we will have Book Birthdays for every following month.
On February 5th, members with March books can start submitting their information. The deadline is February 20th, no exceptions.
Please gather the following information:
1.) Title of book
2.) Name of author and/or illustrator
3.) Image of book cover (.jpg or .png). Name the file the full title of your book, for example “What_Girls_Are_Made_Of.jpg”
4.) Summary or statement about your book, 25 words or less
Send this information to [email protected]
I don’t mean this in a self-serving way. What I mean is that the universe is busy. There are lots of people and creatures and big things going on all the darn time. (Sort of like parenting, right?) So I think it’s okay to ask the universe to focus on a particular want. I think it’s okay to call some attention to it.
The first part of asking for what we want is putting words around the want because we have to know what we want before we can ask for it. This can take some time to figure out and some practice. I know I have it right when I ask the universe (or the car dealer or husband guy or airline worker) for what I want and the answer is an easy “yes,” or “I can do that,” or “sure, I can make that work.”
Sometimes I’m surprised how easy it is. And if I never ask, I’ll NEVER receive exactly what I want.
Try it. Ask for what you want. It just might be what the universe wants to give you.
Know that subjectivity ALWAYS plays a role in this. What one editor or agent loves another might not (and in this crowded market, ‘loving’ is almost always a prerequisite for acquisition). Also know that there is nothing you can do about subjectivity.
However, there are many other reasons that rejection might be popping up and these reasons might be fixable. Instead of pouting or giving up or trashing a good idea out of frustration or saying “it must be THEM and not my work!” (I’ve NEVER done any of those things, nuh uh), become a detective and piece together some clues as to why this might be happening.
So what about the clues?
Let’s look at the following submission tips from the Rutgers University Council on Children One-on-One Plus Conference. To be part of this mentoring-based conference, a creator needs to submit work and have it selected. Check out their insights about why certain picture books were not selected last year. For more information on the RUCCs One-on-One Plus Conference, click here.
Some manuscripts were lengthy and overly descriptive. The writer did not exhibit an understanding of the play between words and images that are essential to the picture book format. Sentences described what could have been shown instead. Shorter, snappier language where every word is carefully chosen is preferred. Some writers paginated their submission, with large paragraphs on every page—not the norm for a modern picture book. Overall, there was too much unnecessary text—text that did not move the story forward.
Some submissions did not contain a clear beginning, middle, and end. The story had a muddled arc or a “one and done” plot—the character tried once and succeeded, which creates an unsatisfying ending because there isn’t sufficient tension. The reader has not had time to build empathy for the character’s struggle.
Many submissions last year focused on the main character or the character’s friend moving. This concept is common and needs a fresh twist. The pretty, fancy princess theme also turned up a lot. The market is saturated with Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious-like books, so again, a fresh twist is needed to make these concepts stand out. What about your character makes her different than what is already on the market?
If you are writing about a common concept, it needs a fresh twist to make it different and new. Try changing the character (from a child to a robot) or the setting (from modern times to prehistoric, from land to the sea) to create a new perspective.
Apply these clues to currently published mentor texts and you’ll see patterns emerge. Study these patterns and you’ll see where you can improve your picture book manuscript and resubmit.
C’mon Sherlock. You got this.
What are the clues you use, my picture book writer friends?
Sharing insights on writing children’s books and the publishing industry, and offering trinkets for creators and educators because you rock.
