Lee Wind leads The SCBWI 2024 Winter Conference "TEAM BLOG" (Jolie Stekly and Justin Campbell) for updates, countdowns, and LIVE BLOGGING from the conference floor!
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| #scbwiNY23 Team Blog, from right to left: Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, Justin Campbell, and Lee Wind (Thanks for the photo, Laurent Linn!) |
Thank you!
On behalf of Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, Justin Campbell, and myself, Lee Wind, thank you for visiting the official SCBWI Conference Blog for this taste of the in-person experience.
If you want to jump on the virtual experience, you can still sign up and learn more here.
"Our stories and our words matter," she said. "The telling of the stories is the heart of the work."
And with that, a standing ovations that I hope brought her another moment of success, because she connected with the hundreds of hearts in the room.
Founder and President, Serendipity Literary Agency
Why are you a children's editor and agent?
Regina started in adult textbooks that focused on technology, science, and engineering but she wanted a different experience. Having attended the School of the Arts in high school, Regina loved being around artistic people and that is how she found her way into children's books. She loved the space, the people, and the creators and stayed for the joy.
With the question "What job experience did you have before becoming an agent that shaped the way you work?" the room erupted in surprise as Regina revealed that prior to agenting she was an aerospace engineer! That is how the agency got its name Serendipity. Regina wasn't looking for publishing but soon realized that the two fields shared a lot of aspects.
"As an engineer, you look at systems and find out where they might fail. You troubleshoot and design which is the same for an editor but with a book." When asked, what three words that describe her taste, Regina described herself as:
Entertaining
Eccentric
Things that don't necessarily go together
With a love of educational work, she enjoys reading books that you don't KNOW that you are learning.
What would you change about the process?
When asked about the process, and how would you change it for the better, Arthur Levine, Founder and Publisher Levine Querido, brought up auctions, and Regina chimed in, finding the auctions nerving racking.
"You don't always get the best editor when driven by finances."
She considers herself "more of a feeler when picking an editor" and believes that money shouldn't matter. She's more interested in finding the right "shepherd" for the project and auctions can take that away. Finding the right editor is so important. One of her best sellers didn't get a big advance, but with the right editor, the book was a success.
Personally, Regina would like to see a change when it comes to the publicity side. When you submit a project, the editor becomes the ring leader. Regina would like to shift the process so the entire team ("ensemble") can all work together to ensure a successful life of the book.
But change happens very slowly, and it is hard to make shifts in processes in publishing. With the shift of technology in the world, Regina feels that publishing needs to move in pace with that.
What sort of work stands out to you?
Early on Regina would fall in love with the author and would get so excited by the person, but realize the manuscript isn't quite there. She is now interested in working with good people that she gets along with but also, can she franchise this person? Do they have many stories to tell or are they a one-hit wonder? These are things that you have to keep in mind. as you take on new artists and creators.
With the pandemic and the changing world, Regina recommends keeping your hand on the pulse of what is happening and how we can serve our community-the young readers.
Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency. Her agency is the largest African American-owned agency in the country and has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Her authors have appeared in USA Today, the New York Times, and the Washington Post as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV One, BET, and a host of others. In 2015, Publishers Weekly nominated Regina Brooks as a PW Star Watch Finalist, and she was honored with a Stevie Award in Business. Writer’s Digest Magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency as one of the top 25 literary agencies. Formerly, she held senior editorial positions at John Wiley and Sons (where she was not only the youngest but also the first African American editor in their college division) and McGraw-Hill.
- Breathe it in and bring the amazing energy of this weekend to all of your projects
- Remember what you learn and let it empower you
- Everyone needs your stories. Kids all over the world need your stories.
-Keep in touch. People make life-long connections through these conferences. You've found a support system that thrives on your success!
Super thankful to you, the faculty, the staff, and the volunteers!
Thank you for coming and investing in yourself!
#scbwiNY23
Growing up Linda was like the rest of the panel who all also fell in love with books as kids, but as a kid Linda didn't know anyone in the publishing industry or that books could be a career. When she left college she had no idea what she wanted to do but luckily stumbled into adult publishing, and after that it was a 'series of fortunate events.'
Linda loves helping creators get their stories to kids so they, too, can fall in love with books. She also loves the meeting and talking to different people aspect of agenting and being a connector of sorts. "It's so much fun even when it's not."
Three words that describe Linda's taste: entertaining, meaningful, and universal. Resonance with a book/creator is important to all of the agents and Linda adds that if it isn't a hell yes, it's a no. Linda passing on a person's manuscript doesn't mean that person is not publishable or talented, it's all back to the matter of resonance.
Panelist moderator, Martha Brockenbrough, starts by asking the panel why they choice editing book for kids. Kate notes that for her it's not just a business, it's a mission. The sense of mission in work really appealed to her in children's books.
Kate went to a high school with a robust tutoring system and as junior or senior it was real honor to be tapped by a mentor teacher to be a writing tutor. When Kate was tapped, her mentor teacher shared that you don't want to tell the student that the work is bad but that her role was to ask questions so that the writer could come to the improvement of the the writing on their own. The teacher underscored the importance of caring for the young writer. Kate felt she was truly helping and loved the experience. She didn't know being an editor was a job early on, but when she did, she knew editing was for her.
When asked three words that described their taste, Kate shares: accessible, friendly, approachable and she adds a fourth - humor.
Martha moves onto talking about the process and wondering if it's changed at all in the last few years. This opens up a great conversation between the panelists about auctions, with a clear note that while the money is great, it doesn't mean you get the best editor for your book.
What stands out to these panelists? Kate says it's often emotional connection, work that moves you.
A way that the pandemic has changed publishing is that much of the publishing staff is working remotely. An editor can be anywhere now and be part of the process. It's opening door for a more people to become editors, allowing folks to come in from many places and backgrounds.
Moderated by the amazing Martha Brockenbrough!
Arthur A. Levine is the founder and editor-in-chief of Levine Querido, a small independent company devoted to publishing excellent books by people from communities that have traditionally been under-represented. He identifies as Jewish, Disabled, Queer, a Parent, a Writer, and someone who continues to be amazed by the power of a great read.
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| Arthur A. Levine |
Patricia Ocampo is a senior editor at Kids Can Press. In her almost two decades in publishing, she has worked in editorial, sales, rights, and production. She also worked “the other side of the desk” as a children’s literary agent. Patricia is past president of the Canadian chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People.
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| Patricia Ocampo |
Highlights from the panel's insights and wisdom:
3 words that define Arthur's taste: emotional, riveting, personal
Patricia tells the story of being 18 and watching a stranger give birth. It helped her realize that she didn't want to be an OB-GYN, and also felt amazing - it was "completely personal, intimate moment" that also had universal emotions of wonder and joy... and she feels that way about working in children's publishing!
Advice from Patricia: Don't just consider the size of the advance - also consider earning out, longevity, committment to sales and marketing (and how creative that marketing plan might be.)
Arthur speaks about sales and marketing, and how "Editors usually have very little control of what happens, other than editorially."
What sort of work stands out to them?
Patricia: "something different" - inbox overwhelming, there's so much coming in, with all respect to how hard authors work on their manuscript, it all starts to read the same. Any different approach gets her to pay attention.
Arthur: yes, and... we also mean not different for different's sake. (Don't put it on pink paper.) "To me, something that feels authentic. If you go into a room and everyone's dressed identically, and there's just one person dressed as themselves, you would notice them." And this also applies to illustration - how a lot of the current Disney/Pixar influenced work starts to seem seems similar - and you're looking for things that stand out.
Arthur speaks of the mission of his publishing company, searching for and giving platform for historically underrepresented voices, fighting against the single story.
Patricia discusses that in acquisitions, no matter how good a project is, there's a question - do I want to work on this for five years?
The conversation covers auctions (not a panel favorite), Barnes & Noble's health (with less returns), BookTok, and much more...
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| Moderated by Martha Brockenbrough (standing at left), the panelists are (left to right): Regina Brooks (Agent at Serendipity Literary Agency); Linda Camacho (Agent, Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency); Patricia Ocampo (Senior Editor, Kids Can Press); Kate Egan (Executive Editor, Pixel + Ink Books); and Arthur A. Levine (Founder and Publisher, Levine Querido). |
Sarah Baker welcomes us all and passes the mic to Sarah Diamond, SCBWI Senior Manager of Awards and Publications, who launches right into announcing some of the amazing award winners from the past year, and the scholarship winners for this conference.
Then Sarah Diamond passes the mic to TeMika Grooms, SCBWI manager of Design and Illustration, to announce the 2023 portfolio showcase award winners!
*drumroll provided by you*
The Unagented Honor Award is...
Laura Garvin!
The Unagented Grand Prize Winner is...
J. Yang!
Agented Honor Award - The two Honorees are...
Julian Chung!
And
Annie Herzig!
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Agented Grand Prize Winner is...
Druscilla Santiago!
Sarah Diamond, SCBWI's Senior Manager of Awards and Publication, announces these awards from the main stage:
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| The circle of attendees sang Jane Yolen "Happy Birthday" to start off the LGBTQIA2+ and Allies Social (pictured, from left: Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville, and Heidi Stemple) |
With special guests Jane Yolen, Heidi Stemple, Bruce Coville, Arthur A. Levine, and Lawrence Schimel, our discussion shared resources, inspiration, book recommendations, words of advice, and a supportive community.
Resources to explore:
Lambda Literary writers in schools program
Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center summer week program
Queer Kid Lit Creators - if you identify as part of the LGBTQIA2+ community, and you illustrate, translate, and/or write children's books you're welcome to join -- just email leewind (at) roadrunner (dot) com
Inspiration:
Make sure your publisher submits your book for the big awards (and not just the Queer-focused awards.) There's a lot more success for stories where Queerness is part of the story winning multiple awards. Like Sacha Lamb winning the 2023 Michael L. Printz Honor Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Medal for When the Angels Left the Old Country, which the publisher (Levine Querido) describes as "queer immigrant fairytale."
Let's support each other -- and not just when Queer books get challenged or banned -- when our books get released.
Think of your story going out there to someone who wants to read it. Someone who needs it.
It was a warm and safe space -- thanks to all who attended!
Stay connected with this AWESOME community, with #scbwiNY23 on Twitter @scbwi & Instagram @scbwi
"Do not be intimidated, BE INSPIRED! We are all on our own paths and journeys"- Cecilia Yung
The session started with that simple quote, one that was to keep us all grounded as we journeyed along with the amazing Christy Ewers and Cecilia Yung.
"At every stage of your career, you'll find challenges. Identify who you are as an artist and illustrator."
During the presentation, there was an emphasis on pinpointing your needs, wants, and interests.
"Make a list of 100 favorite things to draw"- Christy Ewers
Christy Ewers suggested a wonder exercise from John Hendrix "Drawing is Magic" where you write down 100 things that you like to draw. This is a great way to know what you want to spend your time drawing and also, what you DON'T want.
Image: https://www.scbwi.org/scbwi-exclusive-with-chad-beckerman/
We discussed how our goals should differ from one another. We are all at different stages of our careers, with different life circumstances, gifts, focus, and resources. We shouldn't have generic goals. Know what you want and lean toward that.
"How you spend your day is how you spend your life."
"Your portfolio is a thumbnail of your life" Cecilia Yung
With incredible insight from both the agency and publishing side, we went in depth through the different genres, deep diving to help the illustrators in the audience find their "niche."
We dove into what you should try to focus on within your art. "Action, Reaction, Interaction!" Cecilia Yung emphasized the importance of being a visual storyteller. Does it work? Ask for critiques from supportive and thoughtful people. Be critical as you assess your work!
Don't follow the trends. Instead, find what makes you tick and go toward that!
The biggest takeaway for me was knowing WHO ARE YOU? Remember, "you are as strong as your weakest piece" and "what does your portfolio say about you?"
Lean into your strengths. Lean into your weaknesses. "You don't have to do every. You don't need to be good at everything. Be really good at one thing." That's good enough.
YOU ARE IN CONTROL <3
C'est moi, trying my best to take ALL the notes! SO MANY NUGGETS!!!!
Shoutout to Debbie Ridpath Ohi for taking such wonderful photos for me as I soaked everything in! Debbie was a part of Session Two, and all I can say is- WOW! So grateful for her energy and wonderful advice! Such a supernova of a human!
Stay connected with this AWESOME community, with #scbwiNY23 on Twitter @scbwi & Instagram @scbwi
Cecilia Yung is executive art director and vice president at Penguin Books for Young Readers, where she oversees illustration and design for two imprints, G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Nancy Paulsen Books. She is fortunate to have worked with some of the major illustrators of children’s books, but the highlight of her work is to discover and develop new talent. She is on the Advisory Council of SCBWI, as well as a member of its Illustrators Committee.
Allyn Johnston is VP and publisher of Beach Lane Books, a San Diego-based children’s book imprint that she founded on April Fool’s Day, 2008. Among the authors and illustrators with whom she works are Marla Frazee, Lauren Stringer, Cynthia Rylant, Arthur Howard, Mark Teague, Mem Fox, Linda Davick, Jeanette Winter, Jonah Winter, Jan Thomas, Mary Lyn Ray, Amy Schwartz, Aura Lewis, Katie Mazeika, K. L. Going, and Debra Frasier.
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| Allyn Johnston reads and analyses one of many picture books during this Creative Lab |
At the start of three breakout sessions on the "Miracle of the Picture Book," Allyn shares that she's looking for "imaginative brilliance" -- a manuscript that "delivers an emotional impact," an emotional experience that effects the reader and the child/children the book is being read to.
Allyn encourages us to consider that "it's not just a book, it's a performance for the reader" and that when picture books are done right, it's "Holy work at its best."
Among many shared examples, Allyn reads School's First Day of School by Adam Rex, illustrated by Christian Robinson, aloud to us, then considers what makes it work: How it's funny, emotional, a completely fresh take on the concept, with dialog that advances the story and deepens the emotion. And a good refrain.
When writing a manuscript, Allyn offers the advice that you're "writing a script for a piece of theater on the stage of a picture book."
And then we get hands-on! To make the point that a picture book manuscript is not just a block of text, Allyn prepared a block of text for us to cut up and place into a book dummy. (We take eight blank 8.5"x11" pages, folded hamburger style to make a 32 page dummy).
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| The room at work! |
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| Close up exercise work - printed out manuscript as block of text, scissors, and tape/glue |
The text we do the exercise with is from Scarecrow, by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer.
After we've made our own choices, we get to compare the choices Lauren made for page breaks in illustrating the text by Cynthia.
Maybe the most valuable aspect of this 7.5 hour workshop is Allyn's live reading of first pages submitted by attendees, with her live commentary on what grabs her and what doesn't -- and why.
There's lots more example books, Q&A, and advice... an amazing Creative Lab!
Creative Lab: TRUE REVISION with Elana K Arnold and Eliot Schrefer
The plan ahead for our 7.5 hours together:
Session 1: What have I made?
Taking a hard look at what we've actually made, rather than what we intended to make. We'll make a story map and looking at settings.
Session 2: What haven't I considered? We'll look at tension and scene building, as well at the rhythm of five pages.
Session 3: The full novel diagnostic. We'll leave with a plan for working on the revision when we go home.
In this first session, we get a peek inside the way Eliot maps plot and Elena shares amazing insight to the ways setting can work even more for our stories.
Here's a great suggestion and something you can try:
Elana and Eliot send off to consider what we love about our projects. This is an important consideration because we so often look at what's wrong with our work instead of what's right. Elana encourages us to lean into what we love and others love about our work.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
In session 2, we are looking more micro-level; at sentences, openings, and scenes and how it all relates to the whole.
Here's a takeaway that might be fun to look at:
Read the first paragraph of THE HUNGER GAMES. Note with each sentence what information it gave you and/or what question(s) has it made you consider.
A tip from Elana: find what you think is the strongest scene in your book. Let it be the gold standard and know that all of your scenes can be just as good.
Here's a peek at the list generated of what attendees thought were key takeaways from day 1. (The last one will have to remain a mystery.)
Translation is an art, and the artists who work on children's literature are a vital part of our international SCBWI community! (The world is much more diverse than just folks who speak English...)
The Spanish Language/Translators Social on Saturday at lunch was an intimate conversation, with connections international and multi-lingual!
Some of the handouts included:
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for copies of the handouts or for any SCBWI translation questions, email tc@scbwi.org
for resources in español, email Malena Fuentes, slc@scbwi.org
