Agents and Editors: Liz Waniewski and Sarah Davies

SCBWI WWA Spring Conference time! As always, I'm posting the links I've gathered to free interviews and information on the agents and editorial faculty that will appear at our conference this year. Sorry the links are homely, but at least you'll know where you are going! Today: Liz Waniewski and Sarah Davies. Tomorrow: Joe Monti and Tina Wexler.

Liz Waniewski

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/yr/dial.html

http://www.facebook.com/people/Liz-Waniewski-At-Dial/100000076142460#!/profile.php?id=100000076142460

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-conference-series-editorial-art.html

11/2010 http://faeriality.blogspot.com/2010/11/interview-with-senior-editor-at-dial.html

10/2009 http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2009/10/editor-interview-liz-waniewski-on-dial.html

10/2007 http://querytracker.net/forum/index.php?topic=387.0

2007? http://www.sudipta.com/index_files/Page2451.htm

http://ozandends.blogspot.com/search?q=waniewski

Sarah Davies

http://www.greenhouseliterary.com/

http://www.greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/site/sarahs_blog

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SarahDavies/

http://agentquery.com/agent.aspx?agentid=1083

http://www.authoradvance.com/agents/sarah-davies

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-conference-series-faculty-q-with.html

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-conference-series-agent-faculty.html

9/2010 http://middlegradeninja.blogspot.com/2010/09/7-questions-for-literary-agent-sarah.html

8/2010 http://www.yahighway.com/2010/08/publisher-interviews-sarah-davies.html

http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/sarah-davies-finding-the-right-agent/

2010 http://www.scbwibologna.org/2010/presenters/interviews/sarah-davies.php

7/2009 http://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/2009/07/agent-spotlight-sarah-davies.html

3/2009 http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/A+Childrens+Agent+Talks+Marketing+Your+Work.aspx

1/2009 http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2009/01/agent-interview-sarah-davies-of.html

http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/2009/01/secret-agent-unveiled-sarah-davies.html

Agents and Editors: Martha Mihalick and Tim Travaglini

SCBWI WWA Spring Conference time! As always, I'm posting the links I've gathered to free interviews and information on the agents and editorial faculty that will appear at our conference this year. Sorry the links are homely, but at least you'll know where you are going! Today: Martha Mihalick and Tim Travaglini. Tomorrow: Liz Waniewski and Sarah Davies.

Martha Mihalick

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-conference-series-editorial-art_07.html

http://greenwillowbooks.com/

Current blog: http://marthamihalick.com/

Blog to 2009 http://acuriosityshop.blogspot.com/

6/2010 http://greenwillowblog.com/?p=1753

8/2009 http://writeoncon.com/2010/08/myths-and-misconceptions-by-literary-agent-holly-root-and-editors-molly-o%E2%80%99neill-and-martha-mihalick/

http://writeoncon.com/2010/08/live-industry-professional-panel-elana-roth-kathleen-ortiz-martha-mihalick/

Tim Travaglini

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-conference-series-faculty-q-with_09.html

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-conference-series-editorial-and.html

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/youngreaders/index.html

http://www.zoominfo.com/search#search/profile/person?personId=79178611&targetid=profile

8/2010 http://naomicanale.blogspot.com/2010/08/interview-with-senior-editor-timothy.html

5/2009 http://mermaidsonparade.blogspot.com/2009/05/writing-editors-interview-with-timothy.html

4/2008 http://ldspublisher.blogspot.com/2008/04/storymakers-tim-travaglini-putnam.html

3/2008 http://chickenarmpits.blogspot.com/2008/03/tim-travaglini-keynote-speker.html

2004 http://www.robinfriedman.com/interviews/TimTravaglini.html

Agents and Editors: Lionel Bender, Justin Chanda

Ah, SCBWI WWA Spring Conference time! As always, I'm posting the links I've gathered to free interviews and information on the agents and editorial faculty that will appear at our conference this year. Sorry the links are homely, but at least you'll know where you are going! Today: Lionel Bender and Justin Chanda. Tomorrow: Martha Mihalick and Tim Travaglini.

Lionel Bender

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-conference-series-editorial-art.html

http://www.brw.co.uk/contact.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Bender_%28author%29

http://www.nibweb.co.uk/lionelbender.htm

http://www.jacketflap.com/persondetail.asp?person=95585

9/2010 http://scbwimidsouth2010.blogspot.com/2010/09/lionell-bender-what-are-book-publishers.html

http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/pages/current/packagers.html

Justin Chanda

http://chinookupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-conference-series-editorial-art.html

http://kids.simonandschuster.com/

http://teen.simonandschuster.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Chanda-Publisher/100001466441331#!/profile.php?id=100001466441331

1/31/11 http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/45960-atheneum-to-publish-william-joyce-guardians-series.html

12/27/2010 http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/tag/justin-chanda

8/2/2010 http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/2010/08/editor-panel-justin-chanda-simon.html

http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/2010/08/justin-chanda-simon-schuster-not-so.html

7/30/2010 htttp://www.ypulse.com/ypulse-interview-justin-chanda-simon-schuster-books-for-young-readers

Writer's Rooms - Where You Work #2

A while back, I did a post with links to some places where you can gawk at other creative people's work spaces. Here's another one, hot off the web, of sci-fi writers in their writing spaces

Enjoy!

Two for Four: Character Names

Recently spotted: characters known as "Four" in current YA sci-fi. Obviously, the title character in I Am Number Four is, and now Divergent which will be out in May 2011, has a love interest named Four. Who knew that seemingly unique character names could be so common? A few years ago, there was a little trend blip with "Kat" in Graceling and The Hunger Games. Other examples abound, I am sure, but the only other one I could think of was that I've seen "Pol" twice, but published very far apart, in Graceling and in the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star fantasy series by Melanie Rawn.

How important is a name? I recently changed a name I had very carefully chosen to be symbolic and part of a puzzle about who the character really is, but I changed it because while it was not exactly the same, it sounded perilously close to a character in a very popular, soon-to-be-a-movie urban fantasy YA series. I'm still pondering changing it back because it makes the most sense for the character, and it is actually different.

Sometimes the name is worth hanging on to, but don't get too attached if it isn't really that important. I changed a side character name in a picture book manuscript because it was pointed-out to me that another picture book was about to be released with the same kind of character (a robot) and exact same name, but as the protagonist and part of the title. I brainstormed a list of alternatives, and had so many that I liked so much more that I will re-name all the characters in the manuscript with names from my new list.

Catch a Title By the Tail

Having a hard time picking a title? Seems like there has been an abundance of book titles including the word "tiger" in the last month or two, only one of which is actually about a tiger.

Tiger's Curse
The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Tiger, Tiger
The Tiger
The Tiger's Wife

Why the trend? Who knows - I'm going with a Chinese New Year theory. Up until a few weeks ago, it was year of the tiger (rowr!). This year's animal is the hare or rabbit. Now hop to it and get titling.

Love (whack) You (pow) Valentine (Augh!)!

We talk about messages in kid lit, and I could not resist sharing this. Check out these DC character kids paper valentines from the 80's. Ha!

Cool Business Cards at Moo.com, and Something for Trek Fans

I've ordered from this awesome printer based in the U.K., Moo.com- weird name, cool stuff.

They allow you to customize EVERY card in your stack of business cards, so if you are an illustrator, you can order a stack of cards where each one has a different image you've created on the front, like a mini portfolio you can carry with you at all times. Pull out your stack of cards showing different artwork on each piece, and let that art editor pick the card they want.

And they just did a little feature on their blog about cards for writers! How cool is that? I LOVE these!

Oh, and I wanted to share this hysterical site- Tweet in Klingon, for you die hard Star Trek fans.

Comics and Graphic Novels Up and Downs

Comicworld is going through a lot this week.

Good news: San Diego Comic Con 2011 sold out in seven hours. Someone out there likes comics, or at least comic con.

Interesting news: Publisher's Weekly spoke to five college-level comics art programs. Enrollment has increased, as has the number of females entering the programs. So there are more people who want to make comics and therefore more possible competition for creators. Not necessarily a bad thing if quality goes up as competition increases, because it can lead to more opportunity. Remember the path in the last decade or so of young adult literature (YA lit): increased interest by consumers- increase in sales of YA lit - increase in publishing houses creating YA imprints or bulking up their acquisitions lists - increase in writers and manuscripts- increase in competition and quality of manuscripts - back to increase in interest by consumers as YA lit becomes better and more accessible. Get it?

Bad news: Borders possibly filing chapter 11 this week. There are fewer and fewer outlets for book sales in general, and the loss of this one is a biggie. Diamond Books Distributors (the kingpin of comics and graphic novel distribution) has already stopped shipments to Borders.

Bad news: Canada's largest book distributor H.B. Fenn filing for bankruptcy. Why? Because there are not that many distributors, either. This one moved material for 90 publishers, including comics and graphic novel groups like Marvel, Yen Books, Tor, Macmillan and Disney. According to Publisher's Weekly, publishers are scrambling to route sales channels in Canada through other distributors.

So, there are more people who want comics and graphic novels, there are more people serious about penning them, but there are fewer physical outlets to sell them, and fewer distributors to get those hard copy books to those retailers. Milton Griepp, CEO of ICv2 (Internal Correspondence Version 2, an information outlet that provides trending information to pop culture retailers. This grew out of Capital City Distribution, Inc. - one of the largest distributors of pop culture products in the 80s through the mid-90s that was sold to Diamond Comic Distributors in 1996) projected a ten time increase in digital comics sales in 2010 over the previous year in a white paper presented shortly before NY Comic Con last fall.

Change is coming. Stay tuned.

How Wired Are Teens, Really?

My critique group occasionally ponders how to deal with technology in our manuscripts. If you don't cite it in a contemporary work are you dooming your manuscript to the bottom of the slush pile, or alienating readers if it does get published? If you do make references to technology (cell phones, the web, computers, video games) in a manuscript, will it be outdated by the time the manuscript makes it to market? What to do?

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project research shows that:

- 75% of teens have cell phones.

-The age at which kids get cell phones is around 12 or 13.

-Ownership and cell phones are not necessarily on a one-to-one basis, and teens from lower income families were more likely to have more than one cell phone (!).

- Teens text an average of 50 texts per day.
- 90% of parents have a cell phone, much higher than adults with no kids in the home.
- 90% of younger adults (ages 18 to 29) sleep with or next to their cell phone (!!).
-80% of teens have a game console.
-79% have an I-pod or MP3 player.
-69% have a computer.
-51% have portable gaming devices.

Kind of hard to avoid, huh?

And now add another layer of possibility- what country are your characters in?

Nielsen (that company that tracks consumer behavior) has info. on that in the report Mobile Youth Around the World. Check out some interesting parts of it on their blog here.

Who leads the teen world in mobile internet use? Surprise! It is not the U.S or Japan - it's China.

And although girls lead in the U.S. in SMS and MMS messaging, a teen character texting a lot in India is more likely to be male, since they FAR outstrip their female counterparts in those areas if usage, as in 70% male versus 30% female in texts, and 82% males versus 18% females in picture messaging. China and Saudi Arabia are the same way, with more males using mobile messaging, but not as drastically.

What does all this mean for a writer of content for kids? Only you can decide.

Is This the Face of Jace? And of Any YA SCi-Fi or Fantasy Adapted for Screen in the Near Future?

Meet the new king of young adult sci-fi fantasy movies. If you read Cassandra Clare's YA Mortal Instruments series, be prepared to see it on screen, with Alex Pettyfer as the hot headed male lead character Jace as announced here on nymag.com. Rowr! Physically, at least, he totally fits that role.

And he's nabbed the male leads in not just this urban fantasy, but in the movie adaptation of I am Number Four, a YA sci-fi novel, and Now, another sci-fi movie (no book) with youthful characters. Oh, and rumored to be attached to The Last Apprentice, an upper middle grade fantasy book.

All this after playing the lead in Beastly, a modern YA re-tell of Beauty and the Beast (out in early March), and did I mention he was offered the lead role in Eragon, yet another fantasy movie based on a kid book?

I see a pattern. Robert Pattinson move over.

And hey, what's with the British guys in sci-fi fantasy movies?

Upgrade Your Kindle- Trade It For a Zine?

File this one under I-don't-know-what-the-&*@#-to-think-of-this.

Microcosm publishing in Oregon is offering to accept your used Kindle in exchange for it's worth in new and used books from their store. Check here for details. It appears that the big catch is that they are a publishing collective focusing on zines, so you have to be down with their works to make this deal worth it, but it's an interesting idea.

What are they going to do with the Kindles?

Check Out Old Stuff for a New Year's Worth of Inspiration for Weird and Unusual Stuff, Stories and Characters- Don't Kill Your TV!!

When it comes to sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk, etc., (or any story type, I suppose) sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can't. You know the protagonist, the issues she or he faces and where you want to go with a scene, but what does the stuff around him or her look like? The chair your main character inherited from her lost pirate grandfather? Or the bathtub that the illiterate floor refinisher died in while holding a copy of Of Mice and Men? Could be the chest where the murderer hid the birthday present ribbon she used to strangle the oppressive sister. Maybe you are an illustrator and it's a whole room, where the artsy-fartsy boho vibe should ooze from the surroundings like smoke from a caterpillar's hookah. Whatever it is that eludes you visually about the stuff surrounding the scene, check out my latest finds for inspiration.

One is a show on the Discovery Channel called Auction Kings. It follows the daily business of an auction house, it's owner, the pickers, etc. But the coolest thing is the STUFF. I'm sure many a vampire enthusiast luuurved the episode recently that included an antique vampire hunting kit that pre-dates the release of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Oddities, another Discovery Channel show (swear to the powers that be that I am not on their payroll), "dives into the weird world of strange and extraordinary science artifacts through the eyes of the proprietors of Manhattan's Obscura Antiques & Oddities. Think odd taxidermy (tree sloth, or two-bodied single-headed duck, anyone?) creepy antique medical stuff, etc.

And professional decorator dealers websites and catalogs. One I like to lurk is Coup D'Etat Gallery in San Francisco. They have an on-line showing of all of their unique antique pieces that scream that same enigmatic mad scientist/man of the world/odd character sort of feel.

Of course, these sources are also awesome for story-line and character inspiration. Duh. Come to think of it, I have new inspiration for a picture book right now. Gotta go!

Fake Sci-Fi Picture Books- More Seuss Style, More Star Wars, and...More

Merry Christmas: check 'em out here on icanhascheezburger.com

Teachers Turn the (Digital) Page and Seussical Star Wars

Sales of graphic novels have been down for a while now.

57% of Kids ages 9-17 are interested in reading books on a digital device (from the 2010 reading report done by Scholastic).

Educators are showing increasing interest in reaching and teaching kids using graphic formats and electronic formats. This isn't an aberration. There are now multiple books available for teachers and librarians on choosing and using graphic materials in education.

Get out your purple crayon and draw the lines.

And a perfect start point would be with cartoonist's Adam Watson's Star Wars in Seuss style.

Joelle Anthony's List of Overused Things in YA Fiction Updated

If your character's red-haired best friend (who is a scholarship student at a ritzy private school and is obsessed with retro music, Jane Austin and her green eyed, long-lashed lab partner) looked in a mirror, what would she see?

A whole lot of other book characters just like her.

I loved the original list that Joelle Anthony did a few years back on overused things in YA fiction. I laughed out loud. I scowled when I realized I had done at least one of those things (!). But most of all, I was happy that I had a list of things to avoid and watch for. If you wanna stand out in the crowd and pass the test for being publishable, you have to be different. And not "different" like everyone else. You rarely get the answers before the test, and here's someone giving them to you for free. Look here on her blog for the list.

The list seems like a lot of things that a middle aged writer projects from his or her life into the manuscript. Of course writers use what they know, but I agree with Anthony in her mission to get writers to think beyond the common things and what they know, to what is true for experiences for the current YA generation. Give up the retro music and get to know the present. Give up the Jane Austin celebration - girl's got enough buddies - what about Marie Curie or some other figure? Not all cheerleaders are mean. Not all nerds are nice. Ditch the SAT vocab and make up your own lingo. I honestly don't believe that a YA writer has to have a manuscript full of totally current, in the now references - it just means your work is dated before you even submit it. But, you don't want characters who are shallow imitations of the author or his or her past, either.

Yep, it's not easy. That's why they call it work. And you want to be a working writer, right?

Go for it, challenge yourself, and be glad that Joelle Anthony is out there compiling, updating and sharing the list.

Rev-Up Your Editorial Engines To Be In The First 5000 Across the Finish Line

A different route to go to get a publishing contract for your YA novel with Penguin: the Amazon/Penguin novel competition which opens in January. Go to Amazon.com/abna , but be quick - it's limited to 5,000 entries!!

Do Your Own Homework

So I say it a lot to fellow writers- if you wanna sell a book, do your own homework. It would be nice to have someone who knows your work intimately and knows enough about the marketplace, what's selling off bookstore shelves now (ie, what was being bought by agents/editors a few years back), and what agent/editor might be a good fit. But the reality is that there are a lot of things to research, and a lot of "what do I want?" personal choices that go into this decision, as well as plenty of market volatility and shifting to make anyone who does embark on the market quest go nuts.

Lucky for YA writers, Publisher's Weekly recently did a nice update on YA markets for free - so you have no excuse. Someone is giving you a start point- so go to it!

Start your homework here.

A Brief Fashion Interlude (or How to Waste Time During NaNoWriMo)

Some people love seashells, others collect stamps, and still others love to acquire ceramic Elvis figurines. I have a secret (well not anymore) passion for collecting things that carry things. I'd say "purses" but that wold be too limiting, as I also love totes and backpacks and even had a baby-carrier phase when QOE was small enough to be carried like an accessory.

My latest interest is this insanely cool handbag just made for writers with purse fetishes.

http://www.katespade.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10768526&cp=1863844.3744578

Thought I'd share. Now get back to your word count.

To Market, To Market, To Buy a Fat Hog...Holy Crap! Hogzilla!

So, we've eyeballed how much money a New York Times Best Selling author with 46 published books across five genres makes in posts from S.L.Viehl here and here.

Next question heard from many of my writing friends: how much time and effort does it take to really market your work these days?

From what I have read, seen and heard, the answer is the same answer I give and get to all the writerly questions ever posed: It depends.

Some authors do less, some do more. And what does "more" entail? Look at these cool efforts from a debut author on this post from Publishers Weekly. Go read it, I'll be right here.

So, it will be interesting to see what this author does- there are some intriguing marketing ideas in her campaign, yes? Like picking a pet, and deciding you want a cool trendy pot-bellied pig.

Part of me loves the biggest of the ideas that this author is trying -directly responding to fans as one of her characters on Facebook and having a professional actor filmed and put on YouTube in prequel material leading up to where the book starts. She gets to write more about and from her characters and stay in the creative process as a part of her marketing campaign. What writer wouldn't love that?

But part of me thinks to the future. What happens to that little piglet? Does she have to continue feeding it as she continues to write other books? At least if future books are in the same series they'll be related, and it would make sense to maintain the initial materials and marketing strategies. But if not, how long do you keep it up? Does it just fall away like so many other things these days- plenty of interaction and expectation while the product is new, then expectations slowly disappear as fans move on to other things? If you build a fan base this way, how loyal are they? Are they always going to be demanding interaction?

And what about new fans? Obviously, you want to keep selling a book, so you have to keep some material out there because (hopefully) new fans will keep coming. But to keep them interested, it means more of this great interaction. When do you write new material and projects? And when do you sleep?

I hope this totally works out in the long run- it seems like such a great thing. But I am curious to see how it plays out. What do you think will happen? Oink.